National Teen Driver Safety Week: Officials Want to End Preventable Teen Fatal Car Crashes

The following information was submitted by California Highway Patrol:

The Impact Teen Drivers organization, along with the California Highway Patroland the California Office of Traffic Safety, met on Monday at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont to recognize the National Teen Driver Safety Week, October 19-25, 2014.

Motor vehicle collisions remain the leading cause of death for teens 14-18 years of age in the United States. In fact, almost half of the teen drivers involved in a crash die. The majority of these collisions do not involve the use of alcohol or drugs, and tragically, all of them are preventable.

Speakers at Monday’s event included California State Assemblyman Bill Quirk, Chief Avery Browne, the Division Commander of the CHP Golden Gate Division, Dr. Kelly Browning, PhD, the Executive Director of Impact Teen Drivers, and Principal Len Gonzales of the California School for the Deaf.

The California School for the Deaf hosted the press conference. Their mission is to provide comprehensive educational programs in an accessible learning environment that recognizes Deaf students and adults as culturally and linguistically distinct. Hosting today’s conference was especially significant because the partnership between Impact Teen Drivers (ITD) and the California Highway Patrol exists to ensure that traffic safety messages geared toward teens are as effective and comprehensive as possible. Our organizations work together to continually develop and deliver evidence-based programs and materials to distinct subsets of teens. In fact, ITD and CHP have developed outreach programs for deaf teens, Spanish-speaking teens, Hmong-speaking teens, and programs for teens of varying socioeconomic backgrounds.

A focus of the CHP/ITD partnership is to embrace peer-to-peer messaging.Teens are more likely to positively respond to messages delivered by those within their peer groups. The “What Do You Consider Lethal?” campaign includes a “Lead-the-Leaders” workshop, which has been delivered in many languages including American Sign Language. These powerful peer-to-peer workshops feature personal stories of reckless and distracted driving, and empower student leaders to implement successful traffic safety advocacy projects.

Students at the California School for the Deaf exemplify a commitment to service, with many already actively involved in traffic safety messaging. This year, California Highway Patrol’s “Don’t Text and Drive” Public Service Announcement, “Ghost,” was a joint effort with California School for the Deaf. The PSA received several awards and will be posted on DMV’s California statewide website. Today’s Lead the Leaders workshop provided them the tools to continue and strengthen their efforts.

At the heart of today’s event was the celebration of successful collaboration between teen leaders, schools, and community organizations in championing safe driving. Dr. Kelly Browning, Executive Director of Impact Teen Drivers asserts that, “It will take all of us, educators, law enforcement, parents, and communities, to change the driving culture to one that is distraction-free.”

Using this multifaceted approach combining quality education, enforcement, and cutting-edge technology, California is one giant step closer to ending preventable teen fatal car crashes.

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